EPB team visiting Africa to explore investment scopes

Financial Express, 27 July 2012

A delegation of Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) is now visiting a number of African countries to explore new areas of investment and export, officials said Thursday.

The delegation has already visited Liberia and Ghana, and is expected to visit Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire in the next couple of days to interact with the businesses of those countries.

The team, led by EPB vice-chairman Shubhashish Bose, Wednesday met leaders of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) to boost trade and investment between Bangladesh and the African country, the officials said.

“It is the first trip of the EPB to explore new export destinations and investment spots in the African continent,” a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) told the FE.

Ghana has political stability and an ideal atmosphere for investment and export from Bangladesh.

The EPB delegation apprised the GCCI members that the African countries, especially Ghana, would be benefited, if their mutual trade increases with Bangladesh, a least developed country but seen as a gateway to Asia for its ideal location.

The delegation told the GCCI that Bangladesh, as the second largest garment exporter of the world, can meet the apparel demand of the African nation.

The EPB team members also informed the Ghanaian traders that besides garment products Bangladesh also exports leather products and other goods, fetching some $23 billion in aggregate a year.

The European Union, the US and Canada are traditional export destinations of Bangladesh.

“We call on Ghana to take advantage of all that we produce in Bangladesh, including pharmaceutical products, to boost cooperation between the two countries,” the EPB vice-chairman told the GCCI.

Following the interaction the GCCI advised the EPB to set up a consulate in Ghana.

“We hope you will do well by establishing a consulate here, as it would go a long way in fostering smooth trade between Bangladesh and Ghana,” said Prosper Adabla, GCCI first vice-president.

In Liberia the EPB delegation announced that Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are interested to invest in the African country.

“Both private and public sectors of Bangladesh are interested to invest some $3.0 million in Liberia, mainly in pharmaceutical sector,” the EPB vice-chairman told reporters in Monrovia Monday.

Mr Bose claimed that Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical products and its system of packaging are of world standard, and the products are exported to the developed countries.

He informed the traders in Monrovia that in 2010, the total size of the Bangladeshi pharma market was estimated at $1.2 billion, and it is now growing at a steady rate.

“Pharmaceutical sector is the second highest contributor to the public exchequer and the largest white collar labour-intensive employment sector of Bangladesh,” the MoC official quoted Bose as telling Assistant Minister for Industry of Liberia Sei W Gahn.

In response Mr Gahn expressed hope that the Bangladeshi high quality pharmaceutical products would be useful for the Liberian people.